Gettysburg

Last Saturday we went to Gettysburg. It's just a little over an hour from our house. It was a gorgeous and rather windy fall day. Basically it's hard to imagine Gettysburg looking better.

We skipped the 45 minute film and museum (toddler in tow) and spent all of our time driving and walking around the battlefield. Gettysburg, a turning point in the Civil War, was a three-day battle and involved lots of troop movement over an impressively large area.

We climbed this observation tower to get a view of the battleground.

It was extremely windy up top.

The surrounding farmland.

My favorite part of our trip was the little hike we did up Big Round Top, not because it had much significance to the battle, but because it was so pretty.

Our last stop of the day was Little Round Top, which unlike it's larger sister, was an extremely important location in the battle. The strategic hill was seized by the Union Troops on the second day of the battle (July 2, 1863). The view below is of the Valley of Death. The rock formations in the valley, known as Devil's Den, helped conceal Confederate snipers who kept the Union troops atop the hill under constant fire. In the open areas of the field many soldiers died in their attempt to take the hill.

A rare picture of all three of us on Little Round Top.

This final picture was taken in the cemetery, which is full of canons and monuments to the various companies.